Serena says she ‘won’t be silent’ about police killings
tennis — Star tennis player Serena Williams says she “won’t be silent” about the killing of black men by police officers.
Williams wrote on Facebook on Tuesday that she was inspired to speak out after asking her black 18-year-old nephew to drive her to a meeting. Their car traveled past a police officer, and Williams “quickly checked to see if he was obliging by the speed limit” so as to avoid an interaction with the officer.
Williams recalled “that horrible video of the woman in the car when a cop shot her boyfriend” — a reference to when Philando Castile was shot by a Minnesota police officer in July — and said she worried about similar fates for members of her family.
Williams also quoted Martin Luther King Jr., saying “there comes a time when silence is betrayal,” before ending the post with “I Won’t Be Silent.”
Williams joins a high-profile group of athletes speaking out about social injustice. San Francisco 49ers backup quarterback Colin Kaepernick began kneeling during the national anthem in the preseason and has been joined by professional, collegiate and high school athletes nationwide.
Meanwhile, Williams will headline the Auckland Classic in January, organisers said Wednesday, hailing her appearance as a major coup for the New Zealand tournament.
The 22-time Grand Slam winner has never played in the January 2-7 tournament before, preferring to warm-up for the Australian Open at the Hopman Cup in Perth in recent years. “We are obviously over the moon with this news. Serena is one of the biggest sporting stars on the planet,” tournament director Karl Budge said. — Agencies